


looking away

by artsycat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, just fluff, pure fluffy fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 11:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11416890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsycat/pseuds/artsycat
Summary: There are three things Eren will never give up on: sunsets, the ocean and Mikasa.





	looking away

There it exists, in all its immemorial and omniscient glory; the ocean.

Eren Jaeger looks at the ocean for the second time. His pants rolled up to his knees, the salt water foaming around his exposed skin, gently lapping as he wades through, with seaweed and muddy sand tickling his feet. He breathes in the air and watches as the sun set into the horizon, leaving streaks of orange and pink across the sky and clouds that come floating – not to add rain or a storm, but to add color, and Eren marvels.

And Eren aches.

He’s about to go in deeper, immerse himself into the water and discover the mysteries this abundance holds, when he hears a voice call out his name.

“Eren!” It’s Mikasa, and Eren turns around to see her, her one hand cupped around her mouth, the other waving at him. Her own pants have been rolled up to her knees and her inky black hair flies with the wind, her eyes shinining pacifically with contentment and happiness and he cannot help but smile back at her.

“Mikasa!” He waves back. “Come over here!”

She hesitates, but soon gives in joyfully as she hops with one foot over the other carefully. She makes her way towards him, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt as she places her hands on top of the water, gliding them across it’s smoothness.

“Ahh,” Mikasa sighs, looking up at the sunset.

“I could stare at this forever.” Eren confesses in earnest. “It’s… it’s beautiful.”

Mikasa turns to look at him, her eyes trailing over the features of his face. “It is.”

He turns to her abruptly, and grabs her hand, a twinkle in his eye and a smile making its way onto his face. “Let’s swim.”

Mikasa startles, either by the contact of Eren’s touch or his declaration, but she shakes out of it and says, “But Eren, our clothes. They’ll be soaked. And we don’t have any fresh pairs.”

The possibility hadn’t reached Eren’s mind, and he looks almost dejected, until he starts moving towards the shore, removing his shirt and abandoning it on a rather large rock and he starts moving to pull off his pants until Mikasa’s voice snaps him out of his reverie.

“Eren!” She says, trailing after him, water splashing around her as she does so. “W-what are you _doing_?”

“Swimming.” Eren replies, and Mikasa draws her eyebrows together.

“But _why_ are you taking off your clothes?”

“You said that they’ll get wet. Anyways – Mikasa, I’m gonna go swim. Join me or not, I don’t care.” But Eren does care, and he feels embarrassed at Mikasa’s staring; can feel the tips of his ears getting warm and he hopes that she hasn’t noticed.

A beat passes, Eren and Mikasa continue to argue with their eyes until Mikasa looks away and starts pulling off the buttons of her blouse. “Don’t look.”

Eren can’t help his smile. “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it.”

Once all clothes have been discarded safely, he and Mikasa move to the water. He’s about to go in for a dive, when he hears Mikasa yelp and he can’t help but turn his head towards her and he’s about to ask her what’s wrong until he finds the situation they’re in.

Then it settles into Eren’s mind that Mikasa is a woman. And he hurriedly moves his head away in shame.

Eren feels hot. He thinks perhaps this was a mistake.

“Sorry,” He hears Mikasa say. “It’s just - the seaweed.”

“Not a fan of it?”

He hears Mikasa giggle. A breathless, little thing that makes Eren’s heart beat ten times faster. “Ah no, I guess not. It tickles.”

“Well,” Eren starts, almost shy. “Here, take my hand. I’ll help you get around it.”

Mikasa stares at the offered hand and takes it into her own slowly. Eren’s touch is rough and abrasive and nothing like the way she remembered it to be the last time she had held his hand. The gaping hole of Eren’s absence increases tenfold as she realizes just how much has changed between the two of them, just how much she has missed him, and just how much will never be regained.

And Mikasa _aches_.

Eren navigates through the ocean, waves increasing in size until he and Mikasa have both been submerged up to their shoulders by the water. It is then, when Eren let’s go of her hand, turns to her, and Mikasa notices the mischievous gleam in his eye and before she knows it, Eren’s splashing water at her, and Mikasa feels the salt stinging her skin.

Mikasa looks away, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her eyes against the balls of her hand. Seconds pass when Mikasa can feel Eren’s concern radiating off of him.

“Hey, Mikasa? You okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t think I- “

Mikasa turns around and splashes water at Eren’s face. He blinks for a few seconds before his eyes narrow.

“You tricked me! I thought I hurt you!” He accuses.

“I guess you’ll just have to get back at me then.” Mikasa says, the corners of her mouth lifting upwards. Eren notices and huffs away, until a particularly big wave makes its way towards them and he turns to grab Mikasa’s hand.

“Jump!” He yells as the wave comes at them, but Eren jumps a second too late and suddenly he’s gone underwater, his free hand thrashing around until Mikasa pulls him back up.

He coughs out all the water that made it into his system, and Mikasa’s hand gently pats him on the back.

“Are you okay?” He hears her ask with concern, her hand making soothing circles on his skin.

“Yeah. I am. Just – let’s not do that again.” He replies, shaking out water from his ear. He turns to look at her and oh.

 _Oh_.

Mikasa is very, very close to him. And Eren notices that in the moonlight, Mikasa’s eyes are a mesmerizing bluish grey and he thinks, idly, that it resembles the color of the ocean.

Eren wishes he could say something. He feels the heat returning to his body and he feels embarrassed and ashamed and he’s about to turn away until Mikasa’s hand is on his face and suddenly, Eren cannot breathe.

She looks at him and everything starts to make sense.

Yes, life is cruel except for the ocean, the sunset and Mikasa’s perfect eyes. The way they both hold each other, the way their bodies fit together, and _oh_ , the way their mouths move against each other.

Her skin is silk and she smells like home.

Eren thinks he’s in love.

They both eventually forget all about their clothes.

**Author's Note:**

> an anon on tumblr requested eren and mikasa going skinny dipping into the ocean for the first time and how could i say no? lol anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed this, and please, please leave a review!!! lemme know if you liked it and what you liked about it. if u have anything u wanna request just head over to my tumblr @clrtsycat and send me an ask over there. thanks and bye!!!


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